Category: Something on Sunday

TWO MORE DAYS OF NECK BRACE. Oh God it’s all I can think about. I have tried to be generally cool about this neck brace (with limited success — I fucking hate this fucking neck brace and it makes me miserable) over the course of the last six weeks, but as my day of freedom draws closer I am turning into a rage monster about it. Every time I see a bed I can’t lie down and read on (which is all the beds), I’m freshly furious about it.

Happy Sunday! Despite feeling exhausted and fed up with my choices this week, I realize looking back on it that it included a lot of terrific things. Let’s review, and then y’all can tell me what’s been good in your lives this week.

I have been wanting this for a while — ever since I moved, my record player has just been upstairs on top of a bookshelf, and my records have been in boxes — and I finally had the budget available to buy it! I love the way it looks, and it’s also given me some ideas for how Future Jenny can attain a better lighting plan in the living room.

Also, I have been listening to Diana Ross and the Supremes while I write (see next item), which has obviously been awesome.

Proud of

Reaching one of my writing goals for the month of February! I’ve given myself a fairly modest 10,000 monthly writing goal (which includes blog posts such as these), and this month I stipulated that 5000 of those words had to be fiction. As of yesterday, I reached 5000 words of fiction, which included finishing up a 10,000-word story I wrote my friend Ashley for the Tiny Friendship Yuletide that me and her and Whiskey Jenny did amongst ourselves.

(“But Jenny, shouldn’t you have given that to her on Christmas?” YES WELL WE DON’T ALWAYS MANAGE THINGS ON TIME DO WE.)

Looking forward to

Watching Black Sails with one of my oldest friends! She moved from Louisiana to California a few years ago, and I miss her terribly. This past week, we made a Google Hangout and watched Black Sails at the same time while chattering all the while about how magnetic Toby Stephens is in this role. It was terrific, and we’re planning to do it again this week, and I can’t wait.

Inspired by

This Twitter thread about nominating for awards even if you have imposter syndrome. As a first-time Hugo Award nominator, I have terrible imposter syndrome, but Fonda Lee has inspired me to set it aside and just get on with my nominations! (Also her book was really good and I am for sure nominating it for a Hugo.)

What’s been keeping you going this week? Tweet at me, leave it in the comments, or link up your own post below!

GUISE I have to say that my month of January was significantly derailed by the thing where a car hit me and I had to start wearing a terrible neck brace because my neck is lowkey broken. And I did not do Something on Sunday, and I do not want y’all to think that this means I am finished with it. I am not finished with it! It is still the Trump presidency and we still need to talk and hear about good things.

I have a big one for this week. Y’all are about to be shook. My sister masterminded and my friends brainstormed and my mother constructed the following BOOK BOUQUET.

Are you impressed? I was so impressed. It will be very hard for me to convince myself to disassemble this book bouquet. Currently it is sitting on my dining room table so that I can gaze upon it while I eat. Every time I walk through the dining room, I am blown away anew by its beauty.

(For the curious, each book is propped up by two small dowels in the back, affixed with tightly-tied ribbons.)

Wow. What a great book bouquet. I am astonished. Link up what’s going on with you, or get at me in the comments!

STAR WARS. STAR WARS. STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR WARS. I saw Star Wars and I was INTO IT, and also the characters all ended up, oh let’s say they all ended up where I wanted them to be. Let’s just say that. Please @ me on Twitter so we can talk about it. I loved it.

Happy about:

DOUG JONES WON ALABAMA. DOUG JONES WON ALABAMA. I’m so happy for the Dem voters in Alabama, who have worked hard and who deeply deserve this. White liberals, especially in the South, should remember this victory and spend as much time as we can in 2018 working to support and empower black voters. White Democratic candidates everywhere should remember this and work to achieve policy goals that will benefit black Americans. I MEAN THEY SHOULD REALLY BE DOING THAT ANYWAY.

Charmed by:

As was the case with The Force Awakens, the new cast this time around have been on an absolute charm offensive. Kelly Marie Tran seems like a treasure, as I have said before. Here is a series of pictures where she sees someone cosplaying as her character. It’s dusty in here but I’m fine.

Also charmed by:

This excerpt from a Harry Potter book written by predictive text. It’s hard to pick a favorite part, but it’s gotta be one of the Ron sentences. However, “‘I’m Harry Potter,’ Harry began yelling. ‘The dark arts better be worried, oh boy!'” is p. good too.

Oh, friends, what a goddamn week. I’m sorry to everyone who had to live through that week. If you’re able to call your senators and representatives this upcoming week about the tax bill, please do it. If you’re not, hang in there because you have people rooting for you.

Despite all the shit in Congress, I am feeling ~98.6% better about life than I was last Sunday. Here are a few of the reasons why:

This week, one of my very favorite people came to visit, and I was able to give her a small gift that I’ve been hanging onto for her since December 2016. Seeing her is always such a joy. She made me laugh, I got to give her hugs, and we watched an episode of Black Sails together. All the things that are best in life.

Our fanfic podcast went live (after more time spent editing than you can imagine), and I learned that someone I made friends with on Twitter because she’s a fan of the podcast is the whole entire reason I now read fanfic. That is slightly an exaggeration but not much of one: She consulted on the Vulture article that got me started reading fic, and the first fic I ever, ever read (The Shoebox Project) was her recommendation. It made me super happy to learn that someone I really like introduced me to something I really like. Synergy!

My cousin called. If you are among the fortunate people in my life who haven’t had to listen to the tragic and tedious saga of 2017 Family Drama, you may not appreciate how momentous this is. But it meant a lot to me.

I saw an Akita out with its human and suddenly remembered one of my very favorite dogs from childhood, my grandmother’s Akita, Buddy. Until I met Jazz, Buddy was the best dog I had ever met, and it remains a very close run. Buddy was always gentle and sweet with me and my cousins, no matter how annoying we were. When he wanted pets (i.e., as soon as we got out of the car at my grandmother’s), he walked over to you and lean heavily against your side. If you were the smallest girl in your class, you really had to brace yourself against Buddy’s affectionate leans. He was such a good, good, good dog. I am sad that he is gone, but happy to have had the years with him that I did.

this is an Akita

Finally, my baby nephew has been adorable this week even by his standards. I was over at my sister’s place, and she was fixing me a gin and tonic, and my nephew reached out, touched the bottle of Hendrick’s with one finger, and said, “Gin.” I said, “Whoa, what?” and he said, “Gin.” He also went to the bookstore with my mother and had a fit of delight over discovering that the bookstore had some of his favorite books. He toddled over to the shelves and tried to take them down so my mother would read them to him. This kid’s a genius and has excellent priorities. I would alter nothing.

Tell me your good things! Link them below or get at me in the comments.

Hey y’all, sorry this is going up a little late. I had a rough weekend and I’m feeling really glum and having a hard time looking on the bright side. But: I read a wonderful (but sad) YA novel called Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman, and it reminded me again of how much I love to read; and I caught up on the new season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which is absolutely terrific. So there’s that!

Happy Sunday, friends! Here in Louisiana, the weather shocked me by taking a turn for the coolish. I have my fingers crossed (but am not sanguine) that it will stay under 70 through Thanksgiving. Wouldn’t that be nice? A cool Thanksgiving? Anyway, right now it’s in the mid-fifties and sunny, so I am a happy and thankful gal. Here’s what’s been making me happy this week.

Giggling over:

This ranking of the sex stares of every dude in Poldark. What a blessing. I don’t even watch Poldark, but I am familiar with the Aidan Turner smolder-face.

Charmed by:

This picture book my dad bought for my nephew, entitled The Octopuppy. Just go to your local bookstore and check it out, and thank me later. You will not be disappointed. It is perhaps the greatest work of fiction of all time.

Looking forward to:

Telling people what books to buy for their loved ones! Me and Whiskey Jenny are planning a holiday podcast episode, and we want to help you pick out gifts for your hard-to-buy-for friends-and-relations. Just go by our Holiday Gift Guide page, give us your name and a little bit of info about the person you’re shopping for, and we’ll each give you a personalized book recommendation in our December 13th podcast. (That way you’ll still have enough time to go shopping.)

Inspired by:

My dad and I had the bright idea to walk home from breakfast this morning, stopping at the grocery store on the way to pick up our groceries for Thanksgiving. We got excellent exercise, but it did mean that we had to walk the last mile laden down with groceries that included a large bottle of Hendrick’s gin and a 10-pound bag of potatoes that I thought it was a great idea to buy. And a very, very kind lady pulled up next to us and asked if she could give us a ride. We declined because we did want the exercise, but it was so nice and I hope to find an opportunity this week to pay it forward.

What about y’all? What’s been going on for you this week that’s worth hanging onto? Let me know in the comments or link your post up below!

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Happy Sunday, friends! If you’re anything like 90% of the people I follow on Twitter, you’re very tired of hearing miserable stories about sexual assault. So this Sunday (and all the Sundays!) I bring you some glad tidings, which hopefully will be a small tonic.

Inspired by:

Gal Gadot refusing to reprise her role as Wonder Woman unless Warner Brothers ensures that Brett Ratner’s involvement with the DCU ends. I don’t know if she’ll stick to her guns but I sure do hope so.

Happy about:

Voting! I early voted! I sure love voting, y’all. Doing my civic duty can be a pain in the ass sometimes, like when it is jury duty season, but at other times it makes me purely happy. Voting makes me happy.

Charmed by:

My baby nephew learning what a tiger is. He now semi-consistently says “Raow” in a tiny, growly voice, if you ask him what a tiger says. Sometimes, if he spots a tiger or a lion or a large yellow cat in one of his books, he will also say, with great seriousness, “Giger.” What a good and nice baby he is.

(I admit that he saw a squirrel yesterday and said RAOW but I choose to believe he was trying to indicate that he recognizes a squirrel as the type of thing a tiger would roar at, then eat.)

What’s your Something on Sunday, pals? Link it up below!

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Have we all falled back appropriately? Here’s hoping that it doesn’t wreck our sleep schedules: For some reason springing forward this year utterly kicked my ass and turned me into a zombie, although usually I am immune to time changes. Who knows, guys.

What’s keeping you on your feet this Sunday? Link it up below so we can all rejoice in it!

Enjoyed:

The experience of walking while carrying a coat and hat. The weather lately has been doing those confusing 3o- to 40-degree swings between night and day, which means I go into work wearing a coat and hat but leave work in shirt-sleeves. I was initially annoyed about carrying the hat around, but it turns out that having a coat folded over one arm and holding a hat at the end of that arm makes me feel exactly like an old-time movie star. Hooray!

me

Happy about:

Guy Fawkes Day! I have remember-remembered this fifth of November, even if that does not translate into lighting anything on fire. I hope my friends across the pond have a tremendously jolly day of lighting things on fire!

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Happy Sunday, friends! The weather in Louisiana has settled down to be beautiful at least for a few days, so my main Something on Sunday thing is that I can finally walk places again. It fulfills so many needs at once! I get my exercise! I have time to think quietly! The sun blondes my hair! It’s the best!

The other thing is that I’ve started rewatching Black Sails with my sister, and I noticed in the pilot that Miranda and Flint have this book on their shelves.

(I had never heard of this fellow Grotius.)

Well not TWO DAYS LATER, I was reading this book called Inventing Human Rights, and who do you suppose was among the earliest writers to conceive of the notion that all humans had a set of natural rights? (If it’s not Grotius this story sucks.) HUGO GROTIUS!

All roads lead to Black Sails is what I’m saying, and that’s my other Something on Sunday. Link up yours below!